The White River High School band program is in the running for more than $10,000 from the Rock, Wood Fired Pizza and Spirits as part of the fifth annual Battle of the Bands Competition.
The contest, in partnership with 102.5 KZOK, CBS Seattle and Xfinity, will award $20,500 through The Rock’s nonprofit Schools of The Rock Battle of the Bands program to local high school marching bands for their video renditions of classic rock-and-roll hits.
The four month-long Battle of the Bands competition invites local high school band programs from across Washington state and the Portland, Ore., area to participate in an online and on air contest to see which school’s performance can receive the most votes via text message.
For its video, the White River band choose Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.” Their video can be seen at http://therocksbotb.org/category/all-battles.
To vote for White River, residents should text “ROCK27” to 24300 (limited to one text message per day).
Voting continues through Dec. 2 and the top ten schools will be announced Dec. 5 both online and on the air.
After that, a panel of celebrity judges will review the performances and rank them based on quality of musicianship, originality of arrangement and song choice, technical ability and overall performance.
The winners will be announced live at their school Dec. 17.
Previous winners include Puyallup High School in 2009 and 2010, Liberty High School in 2008 and Shorecrest High School in 2007.
radio station 102.5, KZOK is contributing $2,500 to the Battle of the Bands prizes and Xfinity will be sponsoring all runners up pizza parties with a value of $750 each.
“We are bringing a friendly competition to our local high school music programs to inspire the next generation of rock legends and spread the timeless art of classic rock,” said Jay Gigandet, co-founder and CFO of The Rock.
“We created the Battle of the Bands nonprofit program so we can continue to support music in local schools for years to come,” added Don Bellis, co-founder and president of The Rock.
“This is our fifth year with the Schools of the Rock program. We are more and more impressed by the music produced by our local high school bands,” said Carey Curelop, program director for KZOK. “We think this will be our best year ever as we look for even more schools to participate.”
For more information about Battle of the Bands or to register, visit www.TheRocksBOTB.org. Follow Battle of the Bands on Facebook at www.facebook.com/therocksbotb. Follow The Rock on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheRockWFP and on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TheRock.
